Just Keep Going

This is a quick read and deals with themes such as blended families, making new friends, environmental awareness and the Covid 19 lockdown.

Blaber has managed to write a realistic, well-developed plot with the heroine, Becky, showing some character development – Becky is not excited about being stranded with her father and his new family. Once she finds an unusual stone on the beach, the action picks up, and Becky starts meeting new friends, joins an environmental group, even picking up some windsurfing. Becky must learn some of the local, authentic language, and how to adapt to a new culture, friends, and family; young adults who are immigrants will be able to relate to this.

I enjoyed the well-paced action as well as the descriptions of Tutukaka bays and estuaries. The weaving in of environmental issues such as poaching and marine pollution are very topical to young people today. Becky’s problem-solving skill are put to the test as she tries to figure out what a determined dolphin is trying to tell her, turning what was potentially, at the start of the novel, the worst summer of her life into an adventure she will remember the rest of her life.

Do you have any advisory warnings for this book? No

Would this book work as a read aloud? Yes

Is there a particular part of the country that it’s set in? Northland Region Hikurangi-Coastal Ward, Tutukaka Bays